Fife’s Restaurant named “Best Cheap Eats” by Travel + Leisure is located at 2321 4th Avenue North in downtown Birmingham

Fife’s Restaurant, a Birmingham culinary institution, has been recognized in the national online publication Travel and Leisure’s “Best Cheap Eats” guide.

The 50 state guide was produced by Ali Khan, food blogger and host of Cooking Channel series “Cheap Eats.” The purpose of the guide is to give readers the “lowdown” on the best budget bites in every state.

Khan enthusiastically chose Fife’s Restaurant to represent Alabama.

Fife Restaurant owner John Kostakis

Located on 4th Avenue North near the Main Post Office on 24th Street, in downtown Birmingham, Fife’s Restaurant first opened in 1956. Current owner John Kostakis has been operating the restaurant for nearly 27 years.

One thing is certain, Ali Khan is a huge fan of Fife’s Restaurant. An excerpt from the guide:

“Birmingham has caught some buzz as a food town coming into its own in the last few years, even giving folks from nearby Nashville and Atlanta a reason to take a quick trip down,” Khan told Travel + Leisure. “I would pass over the hot new chefs and start my day with an old school southern breakfast at Fife cafe.”

The wonderful and welcoming staff at Fife Restaurant

Along with the food, Fife’s is a very comfortable and welcoming place, and the service is the best example of southern hospitality. This week, Bham Now visited Fife in the late afternoon. The patrons were very satisfied (we even saw Fife Restaurant staff give hugs to regular customers), and the food was generous and delicious.

Literally, more than six decades in the making, it’s nice to see this homegrown Birmingham restaurant recognized statewide and nationally by Travel + Leisure. The honor is well deserved.

Bham Now UPDATE -This article has been one our most popular this month. We also received additional info on Facebook about the Fife family and their ownership of the restaurant in the early years from their daughter Mary Margaret Fife Kyser . Here is her comment: – “Yes my father and mother, Eldridge and Margaret Fife, 1st opened on 5th avenue and 25th street in the early 40″s as Sanfords Cafe right by the Terminal station. They moved to the present location when Post office was built around 1966. We had cooks who had worked for my Uncles during the depression and their children and other family members who cooked the great recipes. It was open 24 hrs a day until the 70’s. our entire family worked in the restaurant at one time or the other..”

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Author: Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards. View all posts by Pat Byington